CLAREMONT: Brutal Injuries

We’ve already been told Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon fought for their lives.

But what they went through in the moments before their deaths hasn't been spoken about in great detail, until today.

On day 33, that was made a little clearer by the testimony of pathologist Dr Clive Cooke.

He revealed there was no evidence to suggest she was raped before she was murdered.

During his third day on the stand, Dr Cooke said while there was no evidence of sexual assault, Jane’s body was so badly decomposed that it couldn’t be completely ruled out.

He also couldn’t categorically point to a cause of death for Jane, but suffocation and a cut to the throat also can’t be ‘ruled out’.

Dr Cooke was present both Jane and Ciara’s post-mortems. He detailed the large defensive wounds both women had on their bodies in detail, explaining that a sharp object would have inflicted them.

He’s also appearing on the stand as an expert witness to analyse pathologist Dr Karin Margolius’ notes - she carried out the autopsies on both women.

As Alison Fan explains in this podcast, with the hindsight and technology of 23 years, Dr Cooke was able to find what he said was a flaw in Dr Margolius’ notes.

He said a note about Ciara Glennon receiving a blow to the head shortly before her death was wrong. The ‘fracture’ Dr Margolius spoke about was - what he said - a pre-existing, natural condition. That was found after Ciara’s skull was re-examined in 2013, three years after Dr Margolius’ death.

Tim Clarke, Alison Fan and Natalie Bonjolo discuss the revelations made on Day 33 of WA’s trial of the century.

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